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People Are Alike All Over
"People Are Alike All Over" is the twenty-fifth episode of the The Twilight Zone. Episode Details Opening Narration "You are looking at a species of flimsy little 2-legged animal with extremely small heads whose name is Man. Warren Marcusson, age 35. Samuel A. Conrad, age 31. They're taking a highway into space- Man unshackling himself and sending his tiny, groping fingers into the unknown. Their destination is Mars, and in just a moment we'll land there with them." Summary Two astronauts - Warren Marcusson and Samuel A. Conrad - take a trip to Mars. Marcusson has a philosophy that people are alike everywhere, while Conrad has a more cynical view on human nature. When their ship lands on Mars, Marcusson dies from his wounds, leaving Conrad to greet the Martians on his own. He surprised to find that they're just like he is, exactly as Marcusson said they would be. They take him to a replica of how people on Earth, but it turns out to be a cage in a zoo. Upon realizing this, Conrad remarks that Marcusson was right - "People are alike. People are alike everywhere." Closing Narration "Species of animal brought back alive. Interesting similarity in physical characteristics to human beings in head, trunk, arms, legs, feet. Very tiny undeveloped brain; comes from this primitive planet called Earth. Calls himself Samuel Conrad, and he will remain here in his cage with the running water and electricity and the central heat, as long as he lives. Samuel Conrad has found the Twilight Zone." Preview for Next Week's Story ::This may look like some kind of kooky greenhouse. Actually, it happens to be a conveyance, a mode of travel - time travel. And next week, you'll see Albert Salmi take an extended journey from 1880 to 1960. I hope then, next week, you'll be able to take another walk with us into The Twilight Zone. (Serling disappears) Hey! Where'd everybody go? Background Information Cast *Rod Serling as Narrator (voice only); uncredited *Roddy McDowall as Sam Conrad *Susan Oliver as Teenya *Paul Comi as Marc Marcusson *Byron Morrow as Martian *Vic Perrin as Martian *Vernon Gray as Martian Crew *Rod Serling (executive producer: Cayuga Productions) *Buck Houghton (producer) *George T. Clemens (director of photography) *Fred Maguire (film editor) *Millie Gusse (casting; credited: Mildred Gusse) *George W. Davis (art director) *William Ferrari (art director) *Rudy Butler (set decorator) *Henry Grace (set decorator) *Ralph W. Nelson (production manager) *Edward O. Denault (assistant director; credited: Edward Denault) *Franklin Milton (sound; credited: Frank Milton) *Jean G. Valentino (sound; credited: Jean Valentino) *Van Allen James (sound effects editor; uncredited) Production Companies *Cayuga Productions *Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (in association with) Distributors *Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1960) (USA) (TV) (original airing) Other *United Productions of America (UPA) (animated title) Trivia *Rod Serling changed a couple of elements from the original source story (Brothers Beyond The Void, by Paul Fairman) for this episode. In the original story the protagonist is Marcusson and Conrad is only in the beginning of the story as Marcusson makes the trip to Mars alone. Serling also changed the climatic utterance from the story's mundane "People are the same everywhere," to his more poignant version. It isn't clear why Serling changed the story and made Conrad the protagonist. *Marcusson mentions they have traveled 35 million miles to Mars. The distance between Earth and Mars ranges between 36 million and 250 million miles due to both having slightly elliptical orbits and different lengths of time to orbit the sun. *As in many other episodes, several props from Forbidden Planet are used, especially in the interior of the astronauts' spaceship. Category:Episodes Category:First Series Episodes Category:1959-1960 Season